Lake Eyre in Flood

You may recall that when in Australia, we had a plane flight over Lake Eyre. Follow the link for a reminder of what this place looked like.

Once you have set your notion of what a salt pan in the desert looks like, have a look at this video from the ABC News about where all the water from the typhoons that hit northern and eastern Australia went. The change is not only remarkable, it is dumbfounding. The roadhouse shown in the early part of the video is one we visited and had lunch in.

Makes us what to return for another visit.

Pink Lake

After leaving Victor Harbor, we followed the coastal roads around Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert  to Meningie. Here we find a curiosity: Pink Lake.

Victor Harbor

After our restful evening at the motel walking distance from the beach, we went down to the shore for walk about in the morning. We have now gone from the Timor Sea to the Southern Ocean. Easy drive...everyone should do it.

Hahndorf

Earlier this year, when we visited Adelaide, we drove eastward over the Adelaide hills to the German theme park called Hahndorf. Actually it is a nice little town filled with all things German. And also at least one Chinese Restaurant.

Wheat Fields in South Australia

Heading south along the Augusta Highway (A1), we passed seemingly endless fields of harvested wheat.  The shades of golden brown contrasts with the bright blue sky to make a very restful and pleasant scene.

Mambray Creek Campground

Our grand plan was to spend the night at Mambray Creek Campground located between Port Augusta and Port Pirie in the Remarkable Mountains (sounds like a place from the Hobbit, right?). We drove to the campground and, guess what, it was just as hot here as was anywhere else...no altitude break at all. This made us very reluctant to pitch our tent.

Flinders Ranges

We stopped at the Australian Air Lands Botanic Gardens for a bite of lunch at their cafe. We gave up on the thought of visiting the gardens since is was so bloody hot. After enjoying the cool cafe, we ventured out into the sun and drove a short distance to the Matthew Flinders Red Cliff Lookout.

Island Lagoon - Another Salt Flat

Not far down the road from Lake Hart is another salt flat located farther from the roadside. This one has a main section (seen below) and a more westerly arm that we see above.

Lake Hart

As we drove south of Coober Pedy, we came across some more salt lakes. The first one we encountered was one we could walk right out on. This is Lake Hart.

Crocodile Harry's

Once back in Coober Pedy and safely on a sealed road, we naturally opted for another short adventure. This time we headed off to Crocodile Harry's place.

Along the Road Back from William Creek

After our flight, it was well into lunch time, so we went to the roadhouse in William Creek for a bite. The choices were limited in all possible ways. We ordered some sort of meat and it was edible and neither of us had gastric issues, so it must been acceptable.

Since we no longer had a plane to catch, we took our time and enjoyed the sights along the road. Above is that ubiquitous machine, the wind-driven water pump. No doubt the source of life for the men and cattle on this station.

Lake Eyre

Our one-hour flight from William Creek to see Lake Eyre was great. the young man who piloted out plane was very nice and good at keeping his end of the conversation going.

Shortly after taking off, we could see a stretch of the Oodnadatta Tack stretching off into the distance.

Driving to William Creek

While in Coober Pedy, we booked ourselves for a flight out of William Creek to see Lake Eyre. The drive to William Creek was fraught with uncertainty. We are, of course, veterans of driving on unsealed roads by this time, but all the indications were that the road was closed because of a rain storm that can through just before we arrived. We certainly did not want to get stuck an hour out of this small town.

Serbian Orthodox Church

Out from town a few kilometers is the Serbian Orthodox Church. As you see from the view above, it is built into the side of the hill and is all underground. We visited all the underground churches in Coober Pedy and this one is, by far, the most impressive.

Boot Hill

Unsurprisingly, Coober Pedy has a Boot Hill cemetery. It also has a pretty cool sign indicating the way.

Greek Orthodox Cemetery

It is interesting to see the wide range of nationalities that have populated Coober Pedy. One way to see this is in the cemeteries. In the Greek Orthodox Cemetery we find very simple graves for people who, no doubt, worked very hard to make a living here.

Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy is filled with things that bring, how shall we say, the homemade touch into focus. This place is filled with people who were forced, or in a few case, chose, to do it themselves. The quest for opals has driven many people to work very hard for a very long time. It is not really clear to me that any of them have really made a lot of money.

On the road to Coober Pedy

Driving south into South Australia once again, we pass through a section with those darned pink clouds again. I really think it must be the red soil.

The Nullarbor

On the sixth day since we left Phillip Island, we finally entered the nullarbor. The name comes from the latin for 'no trees'. And it lives up to the name.

Whales!

As teased in the previous post, there were whales to be seen at the Head of Bight. The southern right whale comes north to the bight to calve before heading south for the summer to feast in the rich cold waters of the antarctic. We were able to see at least 9 whales on our visit, mostly mother and calf pairs.